High School Heroes I suspect it is in high school that we get a real taste of what the hero system is all about. This is, perhaps, our first taste of what socialization, self-esteem, and heroism really mean to us personally. Each high school seems to offer some means for becoming a hero. Unfortunately it seems that the hero slots are few and they usually accentuate physical attributes. In one high school football is king of self-esteem, in another it may be basketball, in another it may be baseball, in another etc. There are other hero slots that are filled by those with ‘good looks’, ‘witty personality’, ‘has a car’, etc. Most students must find their own means for becoming heroes because the high school does not provide the means for sufficient hero slots to meet the demand. Self-esteem is the goal and heroism is the means,; those who do not find a means for establishing self-esteem are in trouble. “The supreme law [of life] is this: the sense of worth of the self not be allowed to be diminished.”--Alfred Adler. In other words, the fundamental law of human life is the urge to self-esteem. Our self-esteem is derived from symbols. In the ape such matters were biologically cared for but we humans depend upon a symbolic constitution of worth. We are largely artificialized creatures dependant upon our society to provide each of us with a means for establishing our own self-esteem, without which we go crazy. Our whole life is a continual animation seeking an artificial symbol of self-worth. Often net-worth is our avenue for satisfying this craving for self-worth. I suspect each of us has a movie-reel constantly running in our head whereby we maintain a real time grade for self-esteem. If that grade goes to ‘F’ such things as the massacre at Virginia Tech happen. These forum postings are part of my hero activity. What are some of your acts of heroism, and are they keeping your self-esteem grade high enough to satisfy you? Do you think that your society is providing you with sufficient means for your hero needs?
I think that most teenagers consider negativity to be heroic. Being negative agrivates adults and is considered to be heroic by teens.
What's a "hero"? And isn't a "hero" different for everyone? And as to "heroes", there are many all around us in one form or another, with one act or another. Are firemen "heroes" when they save a little kid from a burning building, or does he do it because that's his job? Baron Max
What if the definition of a hero was actually doing the norm? Isn't it pretty heroic, albeit mundane, to get up and go to work in the morning / night every day? Heroic to raise your kids or get married or go out on dates? Heroic to rescue kids from a fire because it's your job? Or to find a loophole that saves your client money on their taxes? What if complacency was heroic? Sitting on the couch, flipping through the channels, zoning out? Driving aggressively or driving slow in any lane? What if it's just getting up out of bed in the morning? Nah, I'm just joshing you. It's about moving things with your mind or teleporting back and forth across time, regenerating quickly after nearly-fatal injuries, flying around wearing only your pajama bottoms. A split personality, though? Not heroic.
The thrust of the thread is that we are constantly conscious of our feeling of value and we do not easily accept a loss of that value. Also it is society that must provide means for hero action because it is hero action that builds self-esteem. And we are creatures who use symbols to define our value. Wealth is a favorite token of value. Soldiers value medals, as we can see from their uniforms. Our ego is created in our infancy and is affected greatly by our parents. We require that we feel our self to be valuable. Our society provides us means for performing heroic acts. My posting here is one of my heroic acts. The good grades we strive for in school are a heroic act. Giving our life in the army is a heroic act. Everything we do to increase our sense of value is heroic acts.
Well, it's easy for you to type that up, but what evidence do you have for making that assertion? Just your opinion? Or the opinion of someone else that you've read? Or just your belief? I mean, anyone can say anything, but that doesn't make it so. Baron Max
Books are studied so that we can examine what the best thinkers have thought about the important questions that humans have to deal with. If we are thoughful individuals, we read and study these books as a means to better comprehend our world, our self, and what is valuable and what is important. Then we learn from books about the art and science of good judgment so that we can make better judgments and thereby become better in tune with reality. The world is a complex place and the more we comprehend it the better our life will be.
Well, it's easy for you to type that up, but what evidence do you have for making that assertion? Just your opinion? Or the opinion of someone else that you've read? Or just your belief? I mean, anyone can say anything, but that doesn't make it so. Baron Max
We all must constantly make judgments. There is no absolute truth, except for that statement. The best thing to do is to learn CT (Critical Thinking) so that your judgments can be as good as possible.
Why make those "judgements" if one doesn't have to? If one is not forced to make "judgements", then one should never do so until all of the information is available and proven correctly by scientific means. To make snap judgements about anything without the proper, full information is something rather stupid, don't you think? I mean, you're making judgements that even you know might change with additional, corrected information. So, .......why make judgements when you don't have to? Baron Max
No offense but i think youre going abit over the top in your empiricism Baron. I think all Coberst is saying is that we need to feel a sense of external value to ourselves along with a certain degree of recognition. It's the human condition essentially, there's no point in proving it because its fundamental. I personally try to find my 'heroism' in my writing, at the moment it's more of a self-value thing than a external means of gaining attention from my peers. I will be sending off some articles ive written to various publications soon though, whether or not they buy into my heroism is another matter though! You should definitely try your hand at a bit of freelance btw Coberst (if you already havent) your posts are crying out for publication.
You are absolutly on the mark. It seems that many people have two buttons--Accept and Reject. Everyone needs to add a Hold button. Never make that judgment until necessary, especially if we know little or nothing about the matter in question. We can have on Hold a matter for years if we do not have to decide now.
Maybe you should take some time and write one of your "little" essays on that subject ..."The Leap to Judgement" ...or some other suitable title? Baron Max
Muhammad Ali was one of my heroes. I never really thought about it much at the time. Sure he was an amazing athelete, but I admired his ongoing creativity. We take for granted the kinds of self-promotion, self-mythmaking he performed, but to see him do this in a documentary next to stiff reporters and officials (who took for granted a kind of non-being as normal) is amazing. I can see his flaws now too and how people who got on the wrong side of that mouth of his included people who were mistreated by it: Joe Frazier comes to mind. He did eventually apolagize for at least some of this. But he was larger than life which really translates into he did not stop the life inside him. I tend towards creative people for my heros, artists in the broader definition of that word: musicians, writers, painters, directors, toss in a few psychologists. And there are many out there now.
Ive been recommended this book as a good start - The Writer's Handbook 2007. I believe there are different editions for different countries - the book contain shitloads of information on publications that allow you to send them work on a freelance basis. It's just a case of learning who you can and who you cant approach from what i understand, and then writing something interesting to send of course! Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
